On M List of Movie Reviews

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The Man Who Would Be King (1975)

Rate: 10
Viewed: 6/14, 3/19

ManKing
6/14: The Man Who Would Be King is first-rate entertainment at the hands of John Huston.

Don't ever expect anything less from him because he always has a great yarn to tell. Michael Caine and Sean Connery deliver some of the best acting of their careers. The film is elevated by their performances and even more so by Rudyard Kipling's short story. Although there are many terrific scenes, the ending puts the final stamp on the film's greatness.

My favorite Michael Caine scene is when he told Sean Connery's character to excuse him while he fell down on the floor and laughed like an eight-year-old boy. Right there, he broke the conventional rules of acting to steal the moment. To Sean Connery's credit, he slowly comes out of his shell to take over the show in the long run as his character's destiny becomes revealed. He has never been this good in all of his acting career.

By the way, if you notice Roxanne who plays the king's chosen bride, that's Michael Caine's wife Shakira. According to Wikipedia of how they met: "After seeing [Shakira] Baksh in a television advertisement for Maxwell House coffee, British actor Michael Caine became obsessed with finding the woman he considered to be 'the most beautiful...he had ever seen.'"

All in all, add The Man Who Would Be King to the long list of John Huston's great pictures that'll stand the test of time forever.

3/19: Talk about a unique action-adventure picture: The Man Who Would Be King.

It's a breathtaking story about two men setting out for a trip to a mythical country somewhere in Afghanistan. Nobody told them to do it, but they decided to because why the hell not. It's a true John Huston classic. According to Wikipedia:

"The Man Who Would Be King had been a pet project of John Huston's for many years after he had read the book as a child. Huston had planned to make the film since the 1950s, originally with Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart in the roles of Daniel and Peachy. He was unable to get the project off the ground before Bogart died in 1957; Gable followed in 1960.

Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas were then approached to play the leads, followed by Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole. In the 1970s, Huston approached Robert Redford and Paul Newman for the roles. Newman advised Huston that British actors should play the roles, and it was he who recommended Connery and Caine. Caine was very keen to appear especially after he was told that his part had originally been written for Humphrey Bogart, his favorite actor as a young man."

What a wonderful pair. Michael Caine and Sean Connery have never been this good. I normally don't like Christopher Plummer, but he's great as Rudyard Kipling, replacing Richard Burton at the last minute.

All in all, it's hard not to be impressed with The Man Who Would Be King.